A Real Nutcracker
by St.Misery
Summary: With the mystery of the anonymous chocolate cheesecake solved and filed away, Allen thinks this might just be his luckiest Christmas to date. Yullen.


**Disclaimer: I don't, and will sadly never own D. Gray Man.**

**-x-**

"_Ugh!_" Allen winced as an especially sharp bit of metal flew off his nail clippers, hitting him squarely in the eye. This was the _third _one he'd broken and he was really getting quite sick of it.

He rubbed pitifully at his now teary eye and chucked the useless clipper into the bin. It missed and hit the wall instead, following the path of the last two. Looking down at his thick, black nails of his cursed left hand, Allen frowned deeply. He had tried, and failed horribly in his attempt to trim them down to acceptable lengths. Who knew they had a mad, will of their own? Lenalee had complained last Christmas of his nails biting into the back of her hands as she forced him onto the dance floor. This year he had promised to cut them down to size for her, but it seemed he'd be wearing gloves after all.

He sighed and stretched languidly in his wheeled chair, before pushing off and rolling his way to the large oak cupboard. There he stood up-_knees cracking in their disuse_-and pulled out a slightly darker version of the vest and shirt combination he wore nearly every day. He stood on the very tips of his bare toes and dragged out a dusty Christmas themed bowtie. Miniature St. Nicolas' smiled cheerily up at him.

Carefully spreading all the items he'd need for later that night on top of his bed, he made to leave his small quarters and finally get some breakfast. His poor beast of a belly drove him round the bend until he gave in trying to get everything ready before eating. A sad though struck him just as he'd curved his un-gloved hands on the doorknob. He'd woken up so late he'd probably missed Jerry's early morning; triple chocolate cheesecake the chef baked every Christmas.

Thinking of all the sweets and puddings there would be at the festivity later tonight, Allen swung open his door only to stamp his foot down on something incredibly squashy and cold. Groaning, he peered at his soiled foot-

It was Jerry's triple chocolate cheesecake, placed delicately on porcelain plate. Allen's first instinct was to burst out in tears at his one chance to eat the dessert until next year came around. The second was one of extreme fury. _Who in their right, stupid mind would put a piece of cake _spot on _where his great big foot could stomp straight into it? _

In a considerably worse mood, Allen whirled back into his room to clean up, shrug on his clunky exorcist boots over his thin, snowflake pyjama pants and fume all the way down to the cafeteria. He supposed someone-_however idiotic they were_-was just trying to be nice and save him a slice.

That thought didn't help one bit when Jerry unhappily mentioned his favourite exorcist had missed his monster of a monster-cake, while passing plates of dango outwards. It also didn't help when Jerry mentioned, his primed and plucked eyebrows arched high, that even grumpy Kanda Yu had taken a slice of his famous cake. Allen growled his way over to a table where Lenalee and Lavi were already sitting.

"Merry Christmas, Allen." Lenalee grinned broadly as he set his plates down and settled in.

"Same to you." Allen smiled politely and Lavi cleared his throat obnoxiously, "You too, Lavi."

"That's the spirit." Lavi grinned and leaned forwards, "But really, you should have gotten down here faster, kid. Jerry out did himself this year with that triple fudge-" here Allen corrected 'chocolate', "-thing of his. I even saved you a slice."

Allen's ears perked up but Lenalee interrupted his slight happiness hurriedly, "That is, until he _forgot_ it was meant for you, and ate it himself." She turned accusing violet eyes Lavi's way and stuck her tongue out, "_Pig._"

Allen laughed in spite of himself, "It's alright, someone actually left me a slice outside my door. But the great brute could have placed it where I _couldn't _step on it. It wasn't either of you, was it?"

Lenalee shook her head and Lavi helpfully reminded him he had eaten the slice meant for Allen. This didn't bother the young exorcist in the slightest as he continued to shovel food into his mouth. It must have been one of the Finders or Komui's idea of a cruel Christmas prank. Last year the man had tied a thin piece of string across the cafeteria entrance at about ankle length, so that anyone not watching their step flung themselves straight over it. Komui's only defence was to say he didn't think it was fair the entire Order got to the cake of all cakes before he could. Kanda was beside himself with rage, having nearly catapulted over the string, Mugen and all.

After about an hour or so, Reever, ushering in a hoard of Finders carrying large boxes of decorations, kicked the three of them out and forbade them to come back until 6:00pm. The official start of the event, to which Allen moaned about the loss of lunch.

Lenalee excused herself from their company and darted off to her room, mumbling something about presents. That left Allen and Lavi standing awkwardly, neither of them had gotten presents for anyone.

"We did agree on no presents this time." Allen assured himself and Lavi, "And where was the time? We've been on missions non-stop."

Lavi hooked an arm around Allen's elbow and tugged him along, "Don't worry about it, that's just her way."

Allen realized Lavi had dragged him right into the cozy library with its roaring fire and stacks of books piled high on every table and empty armchair.

"Oi, Gramps!" Lavi bellowed suddenly, catching slight of the ancient Bookman tethering dangerously on the last rung of a tall ladder. He sped off with a quick, "I'll be back before ya' know it."

Allen stifled his giggles as he watched Lavi berating the old man for pushing his youth and the Bookman kicking wildly at the hands Lavi offered in assistance. Since he was here, Allen though he might as well busy himself with a good book by the fire. It wasn't as if he had much better to do today. Walking along the rows of tables, he caught a glimpse of a sight so unreal he had to blink before he recognized the person well concealed behind a flurry of thick books.

Allen opened his mouth in a gawk, "_Kanda?_"

The said exorcist looked up so sharply, and dropped the book he was holding so hastily, Allen wasn't quite sure he was even holding it in the first place. Kanda glared death at the intrusion and barked a rude, "What?"

Allen cleared his throat, "Er…Merry Christmas." He hated how it came out sounding more like a question than a greeting.

Kanda sniffed offhandedly and studied Allen for a moment, as if deciding whether or not that deserved a proper answer. "Shut up." He said at last, and brushed past Allen in a hurry.

Glancing once over his shoulder, to make sure the older exorcist had indeed left the area, Allen made his inquisitive way over to the table with all the books. Picking them up one by one, Allen muttered out the titles. _The History of Christmas and the Wonders of Mistletoe. Santa Claus the Man in Red. Gift Giving Galore. _And finally, the one that made the most sense, _Sword Keeping for Samurai's. _Kanda probably didn't want to be caught dead with a book in his hands.

"Whatcha got there, Sprout?" Came Lavi's voice from behind. Clamping a hand on Allen's shoulder, the redhead leaned over his small frame and grabbed a book titled, _The Complete Collection of Carols, _and snorted in amusement, "No offence, but I've accidentally overheard your yodeling in the showers and, well, your harmony's all off."

Allen quirked an eyebrow, not at all offended. "In the showers?"

Lavi shrugged, waving away the question, "In my defence, the walls aren't, _regrettably_, soundproof. You'd cringe to hear what I've heard in there."

Allen rolled his eyes and playfully elbowed Lavi in the ribs, which given his height, jabbed him in the stomach instead. Lavi coughed to cover up his one eyed wince and after long hours of doing absolutely nothing, Bookman came by to remind them it was now half past five.

**-x-**

Allen blew roughly on his bowtie to dislodge all the collected dust, sneezing violently when he breathed it in, and secured it around his slender neck. He had tried, in vain, to use Lenalee's _Miracle Hair Gel_ on his untamable locks of white. All that achieved was a very spiked out look that Lavi would have called, 'totally rad," if he were here to see it in all it's lethal, pointy glory.

Allen ran all the way to the communal bathrooms and dunked his head straight under the sink without checking to see if he'd bowled someone over in his rush.

He didn't stop his frenzied rubbing until a scoff sounded somewhere behind him. He attempted to turn around, banged his head painfully on the tap, and squinted at the person rude enough to scorn his efforts.

And _of course_, it had to be Kanda. Because the universe would absolutely implode if it couldn't find the best person to catch Allen with his hair looking electrocuted and standing on end, with water dripping down his freshly pressed suit.

Allen managed to look both fierce and pathetic in perfect unison. "You think this is funny, do you?" He huffed, and continued to pull at his hair.

Kanda, outwardly immaculate in a plain black shirt and fitted pants and hair that would _forever _behave, snorted not unlike the way Lavi had done hours before. "_Miracle Gel_?" he asked, startling Allen out of wringing his wet hair.

Allen pursed his lips and spun around to assess the damage in the long mirror. His hair was indeed frightful. "I'm going to have to tell Lenalee it's not very _miraculous._"

Kanda's lips nearly twitched but he managed to get a hold of them before they did something stupid like _smiling_, "Depending on how much you use." He gestured with slim fingers at Allen's mess of a head, "Obviously, you're incapable of reading instructions. No where does it say to use the _entire bottle_." He said in an entirely mocking edge.

Allen harrumphed and whirled back around, "But the bottle was _tiny!_" It was near the size of a pocket mint box. Kanda's face plainly told Allen he thought he was a moron and looking at that face, Allen was beginning to feel it himself.

Allen checked the clock on the wall, whose hands were inching ever so gradually towards the six o'clock mark. He groaned, "This is useless."

Kanda seemed to be struggling to keep his hands in one position. He kept fisting and unfisting them, and Allen thought he was getting ready strangle someone. Finally Kanda shoved them into his pockets where they stilled their frantic movements.

"Instead of _pulling_, try patting down that hideous mop of yours." Kanda sneered as best he could and strode out the bathroom, his hands still in his pockets.

Allen could hardly feel insulted when Kanda offered the first piece of voluntary advice without needing to be poked and prodded first. Patting his head roughly, Allen broke out into a relieved smile when some semblance of his old hair returned.

**-x-**

The cafeteria, generally plain and boring, wholly transformed itself once a year this precise day.

The blazing yellow lights had been shut of entirely and the only light source came from the hundreds of white light bulbed streamers looping around the room and cheery paper lanterns dangling at oddly decorative angles. Eight large, ornamented Christmas trees rooted themselves along the walls. The usual square tables were replaced with rounded, smaller ones, framing a wide-open space in the center. A few centimetres from the floor, a light mist floated airily and Allen could only think this was meant to be substitute snow. Best of all, a large table full of warm and wonderful smelling dinner patiently waited to be devoured.

Allen looked up just in time to catch the traditional mistletoe hanging innocently from the entrance, and dashed inside least he be found under it by leering Finders. Spotting the people he most wanted to spend the holidays with, he made his way over to them, weaving in between the crowds.

Krory looked up from the tart he had shoved past his fangs and smiled politely at Allen while Miranda all but bowed herself straight into Krory's second pineapple tart. He looked aghast and took a well-hidden step backwards.

Lenalee pounced on Allen the minute she caught sight of him, "You look adorable Allen!" she praised, pinching one cheek gently between painted nails.

Allen flushed and batted her hands away, but not fast enough to avoid Lavi who trapped him soon after, "And that _bowtie_." He supplied, pointing to the very old, very colourful thing on Allen's neck, "It reallysays _'Christmas!'_ doesn't it?"

Lenalee bumped him out of the way and examined Allen's hair, "I see you used my gel." She noted happily.

Allen smiled nervously, "All of it, actually."

Lenalee positively beamed at him, "Oh good! You've got a whole case waiting for you all wrapped up."

Allen's smile faltered. He _never_ wanted to see another _Miracle Gel _bottle so long as he had hair remaining on his head.

Lavi's sudden outburst of, "Is that _you_, Yu-chan?" covered up for Allen's lack of a response.

It was indeed Kanda, and his perfectly in place low pony tailed self, holding a glass of dark red liquid. He pretended not to hear Lavi but couldn't ignore the boy when he was hauling Kanda over-_with great effort, mind you_-to their merry little group.

Kanda was scowling attractively and threatening to spill his drink onto Lavi's white suit by the time he was forced into a standstill. His narrowed blue eyes roved over Allen's hair for a brief second, the hair that now stood normally enough, and smirked before hiding it behind the rim of his see-through glass.

Allen felt his cheeks heat up again so he quickly excused himself with the alibi of being so dead hungry he could faint, and walked off towards the food.

The rest of the evening passed by in a lovely blur, made slightly uncomfortable every time Allen caught Kanda looking towards him, only to realize later he was looking _beyond _him. It grew embarrassing after a while of hoping Kanda finally deemed him worthy enough to stare at, instead of past the doorway, in all probability wishing he were elsewhere. His bowtie started to itch, so he was compelled to remove it and place it on the table, wishing the thing weren't so scratchy every year. Lenalee persuaded Allen into one dance, which he reluctantly agreed to, being too refined to refuse and then he firmly planted his behind onto his seat until the crowd began to thin.

Eventually, a very hammered Komui came twirling over to their lone table like a drunken ballerina. "Dearest." He said, with a deliberate hand on Lenalee's head. She made a fuss about how she worked _hours _on curling it but Komui paid her no mind, "I'm aware it's well past your bedtime young lady. Now, hop to it, little one!"

Lenalee grumbled but stood up and bid them each a good night, clutching her zigzagging brother round the waist and guiding him out. After that, only Lavi and Allen were left, no one saw Kanda leave but he was stealthy at the best of times.

Lavi yawned and made a move to leave, "I think I'm gonna call it a night. You coming, Allen? No point staying down here alone."

Allen agreed, the place didn't look so festive with everyone, along with the food, gone. They had almost reached the entrance when Allen remembered his forgotten bowtie, told the sleepy Lavi, who couldn't even keep his one eye open, to carry on, and doubled back for it. He smiled fondly at the happy heads of St. Nicolas and stuffed it into his vest pocket. He turned around too quickly and stubbed his toe on a chair leg when he noticed a slender figure inspecting an ornament by the Christmas tree right where the door to leave was.

Allen's breath lodged somewhere in his throat. He'd recognize the figure of Kanda Yu _anywhere_. After all, he had seen an unnatural amount of him today, at every odd place he could think of. Was it that strange he'd see Kanda here too?

Allen swallowed and walked towards him, and Kanda didn't acknowledge his presence even as he stood directly behind him, opting instead to stare at the round decoration in his hand.

"Kanda?" Allen tried when it appeared the other was dead set on ignoring him, "Didn't you leave a while ago?"

Kanda made a noise deep in his throat that sounded peculiarly insulting and met Allen's confused grey eyes, "Apparently not, Moyashi, seeing as I'm _still _here."

Allen fought the urge to roll his eyes immaturely and ask Kanda _what _he thought he was doing, stalking out the place so late at night. For agonizing moments, Allen shifted his weight from foot to foot, not knowing if he should take his leave or stand gazing at Kanda's pretty face, enjoying the view while it was allowed.

Just before too long became a _bit too long_, Kanda averted his penetrating stare and said, rather awkwardly and in one rushed breath, "Did you get it?"

Allen had to strain his acute hearing to make out what was said, "Get what?" He asked, mystified.

Kanda's face contorted to the point it looked as if he were sucking on tangy lemons, "The gift." He ground out, extremely uncomfortable with what was coming out of his traitorous mouth.

Allen hardly restrained his jaw as it promptly fell open, "You _got _me something?" He said in a high-pitched voice.

Kanda's eyes turned murderous as he swiftly moved towards the doorway, "Forget it. You're just _too _stupid."

Allen hurtled after his retreating back, feeling warmth wrap itself powerfully around his chest. He reached out an eager hand and clamped it on Kanda's arm, holding him at bay. "Kanda, wait." Allen pleaded, "Thank you for the gift, whatever it was. And I'm sorry I've got nothing to give you in return, but I really don't know what you're talking about."

Kanda glared at the hand touching him as if it were slowly burning through his shirt before moulding his face into his award-winning, gaze of indifference. "The cake." He said simply, but clearly.

Allen's hand dropped as if it had indeed burnt Kanda, "_The cake I stepped in?_" he shrieked.

Kanda was furious, "You really _are _an idiot."

Allen, forgetting manners and thankfulness and the fact that Kanda had done something nice for another human being, reddened in outrage. "I think not! _You're_ the real idiot here, Kanda. Ever heard of knocking, or placing it where my foot _couldn't _land on it?"

Kanda tried to get a word in but Allen kept on going, "What are doing giving cake to me for anyways? You didn't poison it, did you?"

Kanda, as menacing as ever, rounded on Allen, giving the impression of being impossibly taller. If he were capable of feeling offended by annoying half pints, he surely would have been. "You blind, ungrateful brat." He spat venomously before twisting around on his heel and trying once more to leave.

Fuming aside, the guilt replaced the warmth in his chest as he saw Kanda depart and Allen felt _awful_. He remembered all too clearly Jerry telling him Kanda had taken a slice of cheesecake but not mentioning anything about eating the said cheesecake.

Allen launched himself down the dark corridor and without thinking, launched himself at Kanda's back, in an incredibly gauche embrace. The older exorcist stiffened like a coiled and ready spring but did absolutely nothing when Allen mashed his head into his back.

"That was very insensitive of me." He murmured, wondering if Lavi had secretly spiked his punch and that was why he thought it _okay _to _hug_ the prickliest person in the building. "I'm sure you meant well, so, thank you."

Allen refused to unravel his strangled grip on Kanda's arms, in case he whipped around and beat him to death with his ponytail. Alas, when his arms began to numb with their force, he let go while clamping his eyes shut, wondering later why it was he wasn't dead yet.

And because Allen couldn't see it, Kanda rolled his eyes and sighed, "No surprise there, you're not as polite as a select few are fooled into thinking you are."

Allen cracked open his eyes and let out a relived breath when it didn't seem Kanda would attack him like a wild and frenzied boar. Smiling idiotically Allen said, "That really was very nice of you…even if I didn't get to have any of it. And, um…"

Struggling for words that for the life of him, refused to present themselves, Allen did the only other thing he thought of in his silly little brain to express his deep joy. Once more, he flung himself at Kanda who half saw it coming at this point, and being both very stupid and very brave, kissed him right smack on the mouth.

The breath seemed to whoosh straight out of Kanda's lungs and he forgot how to breathe in that fraction of a second where heated and careless lips collided into his. Allen bounced backwards in that same instant, too frozen over what he had just done to move further away. In all honesty, he had meant to kiss Kanda's _cheek_ but landed somewhere completely off the mark. To be fair, his aim never was that good.

"-mistletoe was back there."

Allen shook his head when he grasped that Kanda was talking. More like mumbling because he hadn't heard a word. "Sorry, could you say that again?" he said, a smidgen afraid that what Kanda had just rattled off was his own death wish.

Kanda's face felt infuriatingly red and he was immensely thankful that the dark corridor hid the discomforting blush, "I said, what the hell was that for?"

"Oh." Allen's grey eye's darted around, as if trying to find a reason written somewhere on the walls. His own face was alight with bright crimson, "Just saying thank you."

"Because it's not like you haven't said it enough." Kanda scoffed, andwhen Allen fidgeted unnervingly he added, "What _now?_"

Allen flushed a delicate shade of plum, beating his last blush by a mile, "Well, you're acting exceptionally calm." He had to wonder if this was what Lavi often called the 'calm before the storm,' whenever Lenalee spoke in hushed tones before screaming her head off.

"And you'd rather have me ready to slice you apart?" Kanda asked coolly, watching Allen notice he didn't have Mugen strapped to his waist, and look a lot less panicky.

Allen grinned sheepishly. "I guess you're not really in any shape to do much about anything. You did have an _awful _lot of wine." He said, remembering the glass after glass of dark red liquid the older man had kept on drinking.

Kanda blinked his sapphire eyes as the memory of holding several glasses of something came back to him. "That was cranberry juice, idiot. But with the way you inhale your food, it's no wonder you don't remember drinking it yourself."

Allen laughed softly because he really didn't remember and Kanda was back to insulting him so everything was bit by bit falling back into place, "Oh, right."

Kanda held his gaze for a moment longer before turning to leave and in a last ditch effort to get another word out, Allen yelled out the same greeting he had earlier, "Merry Christmas, Kanda!"

Kanda paused half way up the stairs and inclined his head in Allen's general direction, "Yeah, you too." He said like he was brushing off a casual statement and wandered up to his room.

Allen, standing alone in the hallway, smiled more brilliantly than he had ever done before. For he was the only one in all past knowledge, to have kissed the great block of frostbitten ice himself, and lived to tell the tale. He only hoped next years holiday season would be just as eventful.

**-x- fin -x-**

**This is just a silly little thing I typed up this morning because I couldn't ignore it anymore. I had been planning to write a Christmas themed one shot for a while now but I kept putting it off. That being said, if I actually planned this out a while back it probably would have turned out a lot better. Oh well, there's always next year ;)**

**Merry Christmas! **


End file.
